November is Transgender Awareness Month and this year’s theme is “True to You”—how every person has the right to identify as their authentic self without fear of discrimination. In honor of that, here is an interview with Lee Schubert, author of "Woman Incognito: Transsexual without Transition" on what it means to be transgender.

Lee Schubert understands the importance of raising awareness of being transgender, especially being a transgender woman in the 1960s. In her new book, she's revealing her path towards self-acceptance, hoping to help others who are struggling and to show how far society has come.

What led to the realization that you were a woman in a man's body?

I believe that at a very early age, under 5, I had some sense of really being a girl. But my family, school, and everybody else I encountered made it very clear that this was something I could never be. So for the next 10 to 15 years I did my best at being a boy. But in college, things started falling apart for me, and after dropping out for the third time I was feeling pretty desperate. I started seeing a psychiatrist and even told him that I felt that I was psychologically a woman, but he did not explore that and, feeling that I was out of options, I voluntarily entered a well-respected mental institution. It was the mid-1960’s, and even then the doctors had no clue about the gender issue underlying my obvious anxiety and depression. Still, I got myself together enough to pretty much get along with myself. Finally, in my mid-50’s, I realized that I had gender dysphoria and went back into therapy. That was when I discovered and learned to accept my true identity as a woman in a male body.

How can religious organizations accept and support transgender people?

Acceptance has to come first. An objection often raised is that God made people either male or female and God does not make mistakes. My response is that I totally agree! God made me a woman with a male body, and it was no mistake! I think that religions need to become more understanding of diversity in God's creation, and to accept that each of us is a creature of the living God. With that attitude, they can treat transgender men and women like any other men and women, calling them by their preferred names and pronouns and including them fully in the life of the church or other religious organization, with no discrimination, condemnation, or reservation.

What direction would you like our society to move in regards to gender roles and expectations?

I hope our society can move away from the whole idea that people’s lives and roles should be determined by their gender. The idea that the man must be the breadwinner and the woman must take care of the home and the children is being challenged. At least for women, styles of clothing are becoming less rigidly defined. Times are changing, and I hope that some day, both men and women will be free to be themselves without having to conform to standards imposed on them because of their gender.